For the Forgotten
by StarDust2Dust
Summary: An elfling wanders into Ulmo's grasp and lives her life in Arda. This will be her adventure. She'll find and lose family time and time again, but she will make new family and friends as she goes on. No matter what, she will persevere! Will be Glorfindel romance; updates irregular for now.


There's a feeling she gets when standing at the edge of a drop, looking down. Disorienting, having a pit form in her stomach. A hitch of breath. She would sway, with her vision getting clouded by dark spots. Or the moment she realizes her chair is falling back. Or when you're swimming at a beach but the shallow sand beneath you gives way to the deep ocean, without realizing, where it goes on and on without seeing the bottom. The brink of the unknown. That was where she found herself.

She knew she was floating, but . . . not quite. Falling without direction. There was a sort of pull, but not towards anything. She didn't know where she was, or where she was going (if she was going anywhere in the first place). Like floating in a meandering river, being pushed by a current. Except a pull. Blegh, that doesn't make sense.

The cold used to hurt. It used to reach deep into her bones, stabbing her muscles and organs. Now it just feels numb. Did the temperature change, or has it just been so long since there was a difference?

Recently, she's felt a presence watch her. It never got close, staying at the edge of her awareness. It was sort of following her, and it felt ancient. It made her anxious. It's gotten closer, too. The presence was intense. But it was mindful of its approach. It would move closer, back up, sometimes even flicker at her. She never responded. She didn't know how to.

On one particularly hopeless period of time, she could feel existence waiver, and struggled to keep herself from fading completely. Embers of a dying fire. She almost went out when she heard a deep hum. She felt the vibration deep in her bones, fighting the cold, a deep voice humming to her. She tried to match the frequency.

She turned to the vast presence that was now beside her, she leaned into the warmth it was offering her. It was all-encompassing, and it was carrying her away.

As they drifted along together, in the distance she could sense what appeared, in her weakened state, to be city lights on a distant horizon. It was only when she was closer that she realized that they weren't lights at all, but others. There were actually others like her, a collective presence. There were so many around her as they drifted towards, then through. She was overwhelmed, feeling their awe and curiosity. They weren't as mighty as the one she was with, but not less awe-some. Some drifted closer than others to get a look at her, but she shrank into her companion. It was too much for her to be around anything after the lone drifting for so long.

She was carried to another singular mighty presence, stronger than the sea of those she just passed. She could feel the attention of the being drawn to her. There she stayed for eons, under the watch and care of strangers. The two stayed with her. But then something changed.

She could feel herself being contained. Trapped. Stuck. She felt a warm hand on her forehead. She could feel herself breathe.

She had a body again.

_The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep _(Robert Frost).

Where had she learned that line from?

The day she opened her eyes, two men were leaning over her. One had eyes as wild as the untamed ocean. The other, newer presence, had eyes as grounding as the earth. They smiled down at her.

"_What are those little dots on her skin? I didn't know they could come so strongly speckled." A deep hum. A warm hand brushing a cheek, "Almost like a faun."_

_Chuckles._

"_She is warm with the breath of life. We did well."_

"_Hmph, thank yourself. I only connected the body." A sigh. A hand on the other cheek, from the man who just spoke._

"_Aren't you forgetting something?" Amusement. What's so funny?_

"_Oh! Right." Rustling. "You can finally rest easy, little one. You are safe here."_

The place she woke up was upon a slab, or maybe an alter. It was a strange combination of light stone and silver swirls. It matched the walls and ceiling of the room she woke in. The walls stretched an almost impossible height, she could almost see clouds by the ceiling. The stone was cool but not cold, and the floor wasn't too far down from where she lay.

She spent her first days exploring. The designs and carvings on the stone walls of her home were artfully crafted and so lifelike, she loved to gaze at them. The man with the grounding eyes (who she was encouraged to call "atya") who liked to coo at her as he tailed after her. Her footsteps would echo in the halls she would run down, but her atya would chase her without making a sound.

Before she knew it, she was running through the halls, playing with the giant figure she would call a father. Strings of silver and gold light would weave webs _just _out of reach above her head, with little beads reminiscent of dew. Her atya told her it was light from _Laurelin _and _Telperion _and the stars. She doesn't know what the first two things are, but for some reason the _stars _just don't seem right. She gets faint flashes of large burning spheres, giant explosions, and a vast expanse of nothing. Then she would get headaches and try to stop thinking about it.

There were other webs, too, of metals. She asked how he could make something so impossibly intricate, yet somehow _alive_, and he just chuckled at her. Hmph. She'll ask Atto, then. _He_ would tell her. When he'd get back from his really long trip away from her.

Life remained undisturbed until, one day, there was a visitor.

She gripped her atya's leg, nervously peeking out from behind to see the figure of a man that entered her sanctuary. Atya put one hand back to ruffle her hair as he greeted his guest.

"Greetings, Finwë! What brings you to my halls today? Don't mind the little one," his powerful voice bounced from the smooth stone walls. The young elfling hid further behind him at his welcome.

"Great Aulë, I came for counsel, but I was unaware of the little one in your company. May I greet her?" The man's voice was gentle, like a murmur. Her atya moved his hand from her hair to between her shoulders and ushered her out from behind him. Into the sight of the strange man, Finwë, king of the Noldor. Finwe promptly approached and knelt in front of her. "What is your name, sweet child?"

She looked up at him, playing with her long dress, not responding.

Atya boomed with laughter at his bashful ward. "She hasn't yet spoken since she came. Ulmo had a good suggestion that I quite agree with, but I wonder what you would think?"

Finwë chuckled, "Well I'm not the one who has watched her since her arrival! I'm sure it's a fitting name," he turned to look back at her, "Sweet melde, your name will be quite fitting, no matter what the great Lord Aulë will choose."

" . . . "

"Nemirë," Aulë finally spoke, "And quite fitting, too."

"Finwë!"

Nemirë ran to greet her dad's visitor. She ran into Finwë's arms as he picked her up and spun her around.

"Little gem, how you've grown!" Her dark brown, almost black hair tangled in his fingers when he settled the young elfling in his arms.

"Atya said I could go out with you today! To see the city! Can I, please?" She bounced in excitement in his arms.

"I _said_ you could go out only if he offered, mel," a laughing voice that could only be Aulë boomed. "And from what I have seen, he has not yet offered."

Little Nemirë gazed into the Noldo King's eyes, melting his heart. "Little one, how can I say no to that face?" Finwë placed Nemirë down and grasped her hand in his before facing the vala. "I believe you desire some solitude, and _someone," _he looked down at the girl, "hasn't been outside these walls. Tirion will be quite the adventure. I can finally show you the trees!

**Wanted to publish the first chapter before continuing to work on the rest of the story. I've been planning the whole thing out out for a year and a half, almost two years, and at this point I just want it to be done lol. **

**Another thing is that I will NOT write smut. I just think there's going to be some violence that goes into a little too much detail. (means no rape either, and I'll put warnings before the torture and detailed violence). **

**Another another thing: this WILL have a good ending, the OC will have a happy ending if I have to pry it from cold dead hands.**


End file.
